Stories from life 23 miles outside the 12th largest city in the Midwest

Yay, exposition!

I think this blog will be about me.

More specifically, it will be about my experiences with work and family (again, I think). I realize this doesn’t sound terribly interesting or original. However, it will be interesting to me, and that’s what’s important, as I’m doing this for me. And when I say that I’m doing this for me, I mean that I’d like to use as a way of channeling at least a little bit of my creative energy into something other than revenue forecasts or bedtime routines (by writing about revenue forecasts and bedtime routines?).

So here’s how I’m laying things out. The right sidebar will contain standard bloggy things like a list of topics, archives, and if I every get a meaningful number of posts up, I may just get crazy and stick a search box there. The other thing the right sidebar will contain is a list of links to blogs, print & online magazines, podcasts and people that I enjoy following, reading, watching and/or listening to for various reasons.

The left sidebar is sort of a personal accounting of how I’m doing in terms of ensuring that I’m in the proper state of mind (and body) to best channel the aforementioned creative energy. For now there are four distinct components of this personal accounting, though I assume they’ll evolve over time. Here’s how they exist currently:

INDICATORS – To getting anything done besides the bare minimum (e.g. showing up to work consistently, paying the mortgage on time, keeping the kids clothed & fed), I need to ensure I’m keeping myself in shape. I’m using Daytum to track a handful of habits I consider to be leading indicators of me staying somewhat industrious.

BOOKS – I’m an aspirational voracious reader. That is, I’d like to consider myself well-read, but then life gets in the way. The first book I read of my own volition (as opposed an assigned by a syllabus) was sometime in college. I changed that as of late and since developed this notion to become a book per week reader. The closest I’ve come to 52 in a single year was 10 11, so not close. But I’m working on it, evidenced by me now keeping a list of books that I’ve read.

LINKS – I do, however, read a ton online. So much so that watching TV without a laptop on my lap feels odd. I use Pinboard to bookmark (and tag) articles for reference. I rarely end up actually having to refer to these later, but saving them make me feel better. Moreover, maybe somewhere in my subconsciousness, wanting to expand my empire of links, I am driven to read more and more.

ASIDES – Writing an 800-word blog post every day just doesn’t fit into my current schedule, but that shouldn’t prevent me from making a minimal effort to make a few notes daily. So I’ve started a Tumblr blog (or is it just a Tumblr?) to collect these daily notes, or as I refer to them, asides. The idea is writing a little bit each day will foster a set of tendencies that will lead to more writing and creative endeavors. I have no idea if this will work, but it sounds good.

So the goal is to try to get a post up every week or so. I’d like to settle into a predictable schedule, but I’m not holding myself to anything yet.

some people that interest me

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As in, Ohio. But not technically in Loveland. That's just the mailing address. And not Loveland schools either. Deerfield Township, really. No, not the part that's in Mason school district. Kings schools. Yes, there's a city called Kings Mills that's in Kings school district, but not there. OK, sort of near Kings Island. Do you know where Landen is?